Suape FSRU

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Suape FSRU , also known as Regás, is a proposed LNG terminal in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil.

Location

The Suape LNG Terminal consists of a FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit) located at the port of Suape on Brazil's Atlantic coast in Pernambuco state.

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Project Details

• Operator: Aruanã Energia
• Owner: Aruanã Energia
• Parent: OnCorp
• Location: Porto de Suape, Pernambuco, Brazil
• Coordinates: -8.398179, -34.959574 (exact)
• Capacity: 11 to 14 million cubic meters per day
• Status: Construction
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2025
• Cost: 2 billion BRL
• Associated infrastructure: Termopernambuco power station

Background

In 2000, Petrobras and Shell incorporated a 50/50% joint venture named GNL do Nordeste to build an LNG receiving and regaseification terminal at the port of Suape, in the state of Pernambuco on Brazil's northeastern coast. However, the project never got off the ground.

In March 2020, Golar Power confirmed its intention to invest R$ 1.8 billion in the construction of a new LNG import terminal at Suape port. According to Golar's plan, LNG from the terminal would be transported in truck-mounted LNG ISO containers to customers within a 1000-kilometer radius in Pernambuco's interior. It was estimated that up to 480,000 cubic meters of LNG per day could eventually be transported in this way. Golar also planned to sell gas from its proposed Suape terminal to natural gas distributors, power plants, and other large companies. In July 2020, Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy authorized Golar Power to import up to 5.5 million cubic meters of gas per day through the port of Suape for a period of three years.

In late July 2020, Golar signed an agreement to supply gas to Pernambuco-based gas distribution company Copergás (Companhia Pernambucana de Gás Natural). Under terms of the agreement, Golar would transport 40,000 cubic meters of LNG per day in ISO containers from Suape to a regasification terminal to be built by Golar in the city of Petrolina, while Copergás would construct a 40-kilometer distribution pipeline from the regasification terminal to supply customers in the surrounding area. In April 2021, Golar Power was acquired by US-based New Fortress Energy.

In December 2020, CH4 Energia, a separate subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government of Pernambuco calling for installation of a 21 million m³ per day FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit) in the Port of Suape, which would supply the Ressurreição power station currently under development at the port. As of May 2021, New Fortress hoped to begin commercial operations at Suape in the first quarter of 2022.

In April 2021, Aruaña Energia, a subsidiary of Oncorp Group, submitted yet another proposal for an FSRU-based import terminal at Suape. Oncorp's proposed terminal was designed to feed gas into the Copergás distribution network in accordance with gas supply agreements made between Copergás, Oncorp and Shell in 2019 and 2020, and to eventually supply Oncorp's proposed Termosuape power station. In July 2021 Aruaña Energia received authorization to import up to 14 million cubic meters of gas per day through the Port of Suape; the imported LNG was to be sourced from the United States or Trinidad and Tobago, with commercial operations at the Suape terminal to begin in 2022.

By September 2021 five companies - New Fortress Energy (NFE), OnCorp (Aruaña Energia), Cosan (Compass Gás e Energia), TotalEnergies and Sonne Energias Renováveis - had announced plans to compete for rights to develop the multi-use pier at Suape port where the FSRU would be docked. However, as of February 2022 the bidding process remained suspended due to administrative disputes about the terms of the proposed contract for converting the pier.

In October 2022, OnCorp emerged as the winning bidder among the five companies competing for rights to build the Suape LNG import and regasification terminal. The company was granted a 48-month lease to operate its FSRU at Suape's mixed-use pier. Plans called for installation of the FSRU to be completed by the end of 2023, with the terminal supplying up to 11 million cubic meters of gas per day to the Termopernambuco power station and other customers in the region.

Construction work on the new terminal began in December 2022, with start-up reportedly delayed until 2024. In an interview with Movimento Econômico, João Mattos, CEO of OnCorp, said that operations at the terminal would almost certainly extend for another two decades beyond the initial 48-month lease, noting that OnCorp's gas supply contract with the Termopernambuco power plant was for a period of 15 years.

In August 2023, Oncorp finished revitalizing the pier for the new LNG terminal, and in December 2023 the company announced that it was studying two FSRU options for Suape, with operations expected to begin in 2025.